The Edge of Twilight
by thecornergirl
Summary: A/U. Co-written with AmandaCullen84. Bella lives on the edge of the vampire world. Alice is searching for a way to save her beloved human. Emmett and Edward are at odds, one trying to protect the other kill. How will their dark, twisted paths intertwined
1. Chapter 1

**Twilight and its characters belong to Stephenie Meyer**

**Co-written with AmandaCullen84 - **http: //www. fanfiction. net/u/1810180/

**A/N:**

_This is a new project I'm working on with my friend AmandaCullen84 (if you don't like piecing together the addy you can check out her page by going to my Favorites list). It's going to be written from Bella and Alice's PoV. I'll be writing for Bella and Amanda will be taking on Alice. We plan on alternating chapters, though we'll both be posting all the chapters on each of our accounts. It would be helpful if you reviewed under the author of that chapter's page, but we'll understand if you don't want to go back and forth. _

_We hope you like the story and thanks for stopping by to check it out. Without further ado, here's TheCornerGirl with Chapter One, written from Bella's PoV._

* * *

**Bella**

As the vampire crumbled to the ground I heard myself groan in frustration. I'd felt my stake wedge in between his ribs as I went in for the kill and knew I'd have a hell of a time pulling it out again.

I weighed the trouble of wrestling with the stake against leaving it behind but, even as I did, I knew it was my favorite stake and that I wasn't leaving without it. It was pure silver, after all, and sleek and perfectly balanced and, if I was being honest with myself, I looked good wielding it. Not the kind of thing you just leave behind because it gets caught in some lame vampire's ribcage.

I gave one last sigh of protest before I bent over, wrapped my hands around the stake, put my boot on the now defunct vampire's body and heaved with everything I had. It took all my strength but at last I felt my stake slide loose. I took a step back as what fluids were left in his body squirted out of the big new whole in his chest - the last of his life force draining from his body. Call me insensitive, but I was thinking that I didn't want his insides marring my perfectly good leather boots.

I wiped the stake clean on the dead vampire's shirt before I stood up and surveyed what was left of him; not much. With the stake out it only took a minute before the body had fully turned to ash and blew away, dust in the wind. It's one of the reasons why I loved using a stake for the kill so much - less clean-up.

I shoved my stake down my boot and turned to walk towards my Ducati, sitting just a few feet away and, instead, ran right into a rock solid body. My balance upset, I would have landed on my ass if hands of steel hadn't reached out and righted me. I knew before I looked up who belonged to the mass of body in front of me.

"Jesus, Em. Don't sneak up on me. You can get yourself killed like that," I chastised.

He smiled down at me and I knew that I hadn't fooled him, he knew I was pissed that he had managed to come up on me without me sensing him. In my line of work, that's how you end up as vampire food.

"Oh, fuck-off you big lug. I was distracted – I caught my stake on this fucktard of a vampire and had to wrestle it out," I spat out, annoyed.

"Was it Vengeance?" he asked, referring to my stake.

"Yeah," I answered, stepping away from him as I did.

Vengeance had a reputation all of its own, one it had come by long before I had gotten around to claiming the stake for myself. Sometimes I thought my damn stake was more infamous than I was.

"What are you doing here, anyway? I mean, it's not exactly your usual haunt," I said as I looked around. We were literally out in the middle of nowhere. I had trailed my quarry into the marsh and, besides Em and I, there wasn't another living sole within miles of us.

Actually, besides myself there wasn't another living sole within miles of us. Em was a vampire, so he didn't exactly count.

People often mistakenly believed that I hated all vampires because my job involved hunting them down and killing them. Not so. It was only Rogue vampires I had a problem with - as long as the other vampires didn't try to kill me, we were generally good to go.

Em walked over to my Ducati Multistrada 1200 and looked it over, the moonlight making it easy to see even if you weren't a vampire. Like all my bikes, this one was jet black and it was fast; my two requirements for any vehicle I drove.

"New bike, I see. What happened to the last one?" he asked, avoiding my question.

"I got tired of it," I answered.

"Really? And here I thought you totaled it when you crashed it into that swimming pool last week while chasing down Shamus."

Shamus Flannigan was a Rogue I'd been chasing for about as long as I can remember. He was a slippery bastard who managed to constantly stay one step ahead of me. He'd been a thorn in my side and would have been a huge embarrassment to me, if it weren't for the fact that none of the other Enforcers were able to catch him, either.

Still, I wasn't the other Enforcers.

I rolled my eyes at Em. "Why did you ask if you already knew what happened to it?"

"With you, it could have very well been just a rumor. It's hard to pick out what's fact or fiction when it comes to you and your reputation. So, did you catch your man, then?" he asked.

"I told you before, Em, I always catch my man."

"Ha! It's about time. It only took you seven years to pin him down. It was getting to be embarrassing, Bells. You should have just given up on him years ago."

"Fuck you, McCarty. I don't walk away from Rogues. Not even Shamus," I said trying to sound pissed but failing. Emmett was hard to get mad at, even when he was pushing your buttons.

At six foot five and two hundred-fifty pounds of pure muscle, Emmett was a force to be reckoned with. Though not the smartest vampire in the world he was probably amongst the strongest. Not for the first time, I thought of how glad I was that he had never gone Rogue; but I knew he didn't have the personality for living the Rogue lifestyle.

Em liked his creature comforts and he liked living in style and underneath all the muscle he was a big teddy bear, as long as you didn't get on his bad side. Luckily for me, he took a liking to me the first time we met.

"There's more to life than chasing down Rogues," Em said.

"Not when you're an Enforcer," I answered back automatically.

"Maybe it's time you looked into a new career then."

"This is the only thing I know how to do," I said.

And it was the truth. I'd been training to be an Enforcer since I was ten years old; at this point it was the only thing I was good at.

My job entails hunting down any and all vampires who've gone Rogue and either capturing them or killing them, depending on their offense and whether they're willing to come in peacefully, which isn't very often. A Rogue vampire is one who, for whatever reason, has risked exposing vampires to the world at large. The most common offenses are feeding off of humans, exposing their vampiric strength or powers in front of humans, or any other number of myriad things that generally scream supernatural to humans.

As an Enforcer I've been physically, mentally and emotionally trained to battle it out with vampires who are much stronger and often much older than I am. It's a tough job and it doesn't always equal a long life, but it's what I know and it's what I enjoy doing.

I walked over to the Duc and bent to pick up my helmet; thrown to the ground while chasing down my quarry. I focused my attention on Emmett and thought about how he'd avoided answering me on why I was bumping into him out in the middle of a fucking marsh. I was pretty sure he was hiding something, now I just needed to figure out the best approach to finding out what that something was.

"So, Em, what are you up to now?" I asked.

"Not a whole hell of a lot, baby girl."

I narrowed my eyes at his use of "baby girl", but I let it go. The truth was, Em is the one person allowed to take liberties with me and he knew it. He smirked at me when I let the moment go without giving him a hard time over it. He knew he was finally starting to wear me down – it had only taken about five years to do.

* * *

Em and I had met when I was twenty-one years old and still a relatively new Enforcer. While chasing down Shamus, something I had already been doing for two years by that point, I found myself at the Fangri-La, a vampire bar that served as a sort of home base for American vampires.

It was my first time at the infamous bar and though Enforcers were pretty well tolerated amongst mainstream vampires - we helped keep their secrets after all - I was still nervous about being there. I took a seat at the bar and ordered a Vodka Tonic and tried to look like I belonged. I had just forced myself to relax and look casual when the vampire sitting next to me commented, "Babe, you stick out like a sore thumb."

I turned to tell him to fuck off but stopped before I'd even gotten my mouth open. He was one of the largest vampires I had ever seen, not to mention, one of the sexiest. He looked about mid-twenties but, as he was a vampire, I knew that was absolutely no indication of his real age. He had brown hair cut short, with a slight natural curl to it. His eyes were chocolaty brown and his cheeks were dimpled, which was disconcerting on a vampire of his size. Looking him over, I didn't know whether I wanted to run and hide or eat him up. I thought option number one was probably the better choice but I had to admit, I was leaning more towards option number two.

After a long pause I realized he was waiting for me to say something back. I turned and looked over the other costumers at the bar and then looked down at myself. I couldn't see anything that made me so obviously stick out.

"How so," I asked.

"Babe. You're head to toe in black leather. No one is that obvious anymore. Don't get me wrong, you look sexy as hell, but its so passé. Black leather is so ten years ago - now we _blend_ with the humans. If you want to fit in at a vampire bar, you're gonna have to ditch the leather."

I looked down considerately at my clothes. I was in a full black leather bodysuit that left little to the imagination. My hair was pulled back from my face with a black leather head band, but hanging loose over my shoulders. To top it off, I had black leather boots laced up to my knees.

I looked around me and saw khakis, jeans, little dresses, suits and even some pastels. He was right; I stuck out like a sore thumb. Usually it worked to my advantage but, I had to admit, it wasn't helping me a lot right now.

"It's what I'm comfortable in. And call me Babe again and I'll have to kick your ass, which I don't really want to have to do," I spat out, defensive.

He raised an eyebrow at me and, after a tense moment where I knew he was debating the merits of calling my bluff, he smiled and offered me his hand.

"Emmett McCarty," he said.

Against my better judgment I took his outstretched hand and introduced myself. "Isabella Swan."

The eyebrow once again went up, this time expressing interest.

"So you're Bella Swan, huh? You've already gotten quite the reputation. I'm glad to see that at least some of it is true," he said as he trailed his eyes down my body, letting me know which part of my reputation he thought I was living up to.

I rolled my eyes at him. "If that's the best you've got maybe we should just call this quits while we're still ahead."

"And what exactly is _this_?" he asked, obviously amused.

"You know, the sexual innuendos, the back and forth flirting, whatever else you've got planned for this conversation," I said, aware that I was in fact encouraging the flirting.

Well, what the hell. I wasn't a nun, after all, and Mr. McCarty had a lot going for him in the looks department.

"Babe, if you only knew what I had planned out for us, you'd be running out that door right now, not sitting here encouraging me."

And before I had time to think over the wisdom of my decision, I'd grabbed onto the bar to use as leverage and kicked Emmett's stool right out from under him.

I'd honestly expected him to catch himself before he hit ground – I mean, he was a vampire after all. Apparently, though, I'd caught him more unaware than I had realized because next thing I knew he was laying face-up on the floor.

I quickly decided that panic wouldn't help the situation at all – which was good as the bar had gone deathly quiet which surely would have made the panic worse, if I had decided that panic had been the way to go.

Instead, I quickly decided that bravado was the best option and so I said, "I told you not to call me Babe, Fucktard."

I could feel the silence stretching out as the other bar patrons waited to see what his reaction would be. After a fraught minute or two where I was sure he was going to kill me, he let out a loud laugh, hopped up off of the floor, righted his stool and sat down again.

"You've got a pair on you, Babe, that's for sure."

Deciding it was in my best interest to ignore the Babe this time around, I instead answered with, "That's what they tell me."

"Ha! So you'll be happy to know you've more than lived up to all of your reputation. Now, what are you doing in here? I've never seen you here before so I'm assuming you're here on business?" he asked.

"I am."

"Who are you after? Or are you not allowed to tell me that?"

"Shamus Flannigan," I answered, deciding there was no real reason not to.

"Oh man. You should give up on that idea, Babe. You're not catching Shamus; for that matter, no one's catching Shamus. He's been avoiding Enforcers for longer than you've been alive and I'd put good money on him evading them long after you're gone."

"That's a bet I'd be willing to take," I said, curious to see how he would react.

"What? You want to bet that you'll be able to catch Shamus?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

"I do," I answered.

"All right, what should we put up?" he asked.

I thought it over trying to decide what I was willing to lose. The truth was, I traveled light and didn't have a lot of choices. After a few minutes contemplation, I reached down my shirt and pulled out my necklace, showing it to Emmett as I did.

"My Emblem," I said.

"Christ, you're confident. What makes you so sure you'll catch him?" he asked.

"Because, Emmett, I always catch my man. Now what'll you put up?"

I knew it would take him a minute to come up with something equal to my necklace. The Emblem was what each Enforcer was given after their first successful capture. It was supposed to symbolize their move from trainee to actual Enforcer. It was rare because Enforcers were rare and it was worth a lot, both financially and emotionally. I wouldn't be willing to put it on the line if I wasn't so sure I'd catch Flannigan; after all, I wasn't lying when I told Emmett I always catch my man.

"All right," Emmett said as he pulled a ring off of his pinky. "My father gave me this ring before I turned. How about we do my ring for your necklace?"

He handed me his ring so I could decide whether it was a fair trade-off. Gold with a huge diamond in the center, it was obviously worth a lot of money. But it was the emotional worth I was interested in and I thought this ring would probably be as important to Emmett as my necklace was to me. I felt a ping when I thought of eventually taking it from him but, he was a big boy, he knew what he was getting into.

"All right, seems fair to me," I said, handing him his ring back.

"So, terms of the bet. Your necklace for my ring. You get ten years, from this day, to catch Shamus Flannigan – if you succeed, you get my ring. If not, I get your necklace. Deal?" he asked.

"Deal," I answered, sure that I'd be able to catch Shamus well before the ten years was up. I offered my hand out to shake on it. Emmett smiled, reached out, grabbed my hand and, before I even knew what was happening, used it to pull me in for a kiss.

I thought for a second about protesting, but only for a second. Instead, I went with it. It had been a long while since anyone had tried to kiss me and Emmett was sexy, nice and funny; a seductive combination for me.

At first, the kiss was light; I knew Emmett wasn't sure if I was going to let him get away with it. When he realized I was kissing him back he deepened the kiss.

I felt his tongue slide across my lips, willing my mouth to open for him. I smiled to myself and then complied. His tongue slid into my mouth and, slowly, I sucked on it, eliciting a groan from him. He nibbled ever so lightly on my bottom lip before focusing again on my tongue.

His left hand had made its way to my neck, his thumb lightly stroking behind my ear. His right hand was entangled with my hair and I wasn't sure whether he was trying to keep me from trying to escape the embrace or pull me in deeper. I thought, maybe it was a little of both.

After an intense minute, I felt him slowly pull away. With my sanity returning, I realized my body was plastered to his and I could feel every large inch of him. I tried to step back a safe distance but he held me close, unwilling to completely break off the contact between us.

"Babe," he said. "Why don't we continue this back at my place?"

I took a deep breathe to steady myself and think through the possible consequences. It was dangerous and it was stupid but, I had to admit to myself, I wanted to go with him. The chemistry between us couldn't be denied and I knew I wanted to see where it would lead us.

"I don't think so," I finally answered. "I should be keeping my eye out for Shamus. I got word that he'd be here tonight and I've now got a lot riding on capturing that slippery bastard."

"You can pick up the hunt for Shamus again tomorrow. For now, we have unfinished business. I promise you, I'll make it worth the trouble of picking up Shamus' trail again later."

If I was talking to anyone else, I would have thought they were just being overly full of themselves. With Emmett, from what I'd seen and felt so far, I was pretty sure he'd be able to make good on his promise.

"You live far from here," I asked.

"Fifteen minutes."

"All right, let's go."

He reached in his pocket and grabbed a twenty and threw it down on the bar to cover our tip. Then, he took my hand and we headed out the door. It was the most impulsive thing I'd ever done in my life and surely the most dangerous, but for one night I was allowing myself to let loose and have some fun. What the hell, you're only young once.

I slid onto my Ducatti and reached back to grab the spare helmet, throwing it to Em.

"Feel like heading over to Fangri-La with me?" I asked.

Em smiled like he always did whenever one of us mentioned Fangri-La and I knew he was remembering back to that first night we met. That was one of the downfalls of sleeping with someone who would eventually become your best friend; they'd be able to picture you naked anytime they wanted to.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Just get on the damn bike, asshole."

"What? I can't smile about sharing a drink with my friend?" he asked.

"Not when you're picturing that friend naked. Now are you coming, or what?"

"Yeah, but I don't need this damn helmet and I'm doing the driving; you can sit on the back."

"The helmet is so we're not stopped by cops and nobody drives my bike. Get on the back."

"You're a hard woman, Bella Swan."

"And you're an evasive man, Emmett McCarty. You never answered my question as to what the hell you were doing out in the marsh in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere," I said, trying one last time to figure out what the hell was going on.

"We need to talk, but not now. Let's go back to Fangri-La. We've got some other things we need to discuss first," he answered.

"And a debt to settle," I said, the smile reaching my voice.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we have a debt to settle. Now come on, you little Vixen, and show me how fast this new bike of yours can go."

And with that, I flipped the visor down on my helmet and took off. I take challenges seriously, and this was no exception. I had my baby flying before Emmett even had time to wrap his hands around my waste. I felt him jump to stay on the bike the scramble to grab a hold of me.

There was nothing I love more than catching a vampire off guard; especially when it was this vampire.

* * *

**A/N:**

_So, let us know what you thought *hint, hint* and thanks for taking the time to read!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Twilight belongs to SM!**

**a/n: **_Ok, again, this is co-written by me with thecornergirl! I'll be doing APOV and she will be doing BPOV. We are hoping you will really enjoy this! It's different, but I think it will be worth it! This chapter is written by me (AmandaCullen84) in Alice's POV. It will also be posted on thecornergirl's account. I hope you enjoy it!_

_Alice loves reviews, even if she can see them coming :)_

_

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_

_**Alice**  
_

Damn it.

Red and blue lights flashed in the rear view of my Porsche 911 Turbo, I did not need this right now. I played with the idea of trying to outrun the cop, but the it was short lived as that would surely draw further attention from the council.

I needed to stay under the radar as I searched for my maker. Rogue vampires did not live long and I did not intend to meet my end at the point of a human's stake. That would ruin my Prada and I was not having that.

Slowly, gravel crunching under my tires, I pulled over.

I listened to the heavy footfalls and judged that it was a male. Quickly, I unbuttoned three more buttons of my shirt, hopefully, this would keep me from having a paper trail. Sighing, I rolled down the window.

"Miss, do you know how fast you were going?" he asked, his deep voice holding a slight authoritative tone.

If I could have turned on the waterworks here, I would have. Sometimes, being a vampire was a real bitch.

"Yes, sir, I do," I replied between hiccupping breaths, "My mother, she had a terrible accident. I, I, just got the call. M-my bro-brother said to come quickly to say g-g-g-g-goodbye."

I could hear the rate of his heart shift and knew that I had won. As he finished his warning and wished me well, rain began to spatter my windshield in typical Forks fashion.

It had been so long since I had set foot in this godforsaken town. but now I needed someone who was known to reside here off and on. He was a Rogues ir so I had heard, but he would know where my maker was. It was an awful risk to take, but Jasper was worth it.

Jasper was my love, my soul. Without him I would surely seek death. He was human and he wasmy perfect mate. I'd seen him coming, in one of my visions, and knew that, once he was mine, I would never leave his side. I could still remember the day he finally crossed my path.

****

Cora's Diner was dead this time of night, it always was. The darkness outside encroached on the tables, even with the lights on. Cora sighed as she wiped counters that she had already wiped a thousand times, I'd counted. I'd been here every night for the last six months, waiting.

It rained so much here, everything looked two shades darker than it really was. It depressed me. Sure, I couldn't be seen in the sun, which made places like this a necessity, but living here alone was draining. Ever since my maker and Edward had left, I craved companionship. Vampires weren't what you would call social amongst themselves, but I was an exception to that rule.

I'd spent most of my human life in the dark alone and I always imagined that was why I craved the social scene in this life.

In the distance I heard the wet crunch of boots on gravel and my head perked up. Was he finally here?

My powers had never been spot on. Things fluctuated based on the circumstances and choices of others. It was frustrating at times like this, when I was waiting for something so very important. Taking a chance, I looked up and the sight awaiting me was a pleasant surprise.

The rain bounced off his perfect golden curls, giving him the illusion of having a halo. He was dressed in a simple black tee and dark jeans. Frustration was painted across his face, but it didn't mar his beautiful features. His full lips and long face finally done justice as they never could have been in my vision.

Careful to maintain human speed, I stood and walked out the door. The rain was cold, but refreshing and I didn't let it bother me. When our eyes met his heart sped up to a dangerous rate. Jasper eyeballed me with a mixture of confusion and amusement, then smiled.

"What took you so long Jasper Whitlock?" I asked brazenly.

Jasper tilted his head to one side, chuckled and said, "Well, miss, had I known I was late for a meeting with you I would have certainly gone much faster."

* * *

Japser had been with me ever since, up until three days ago.

The disappearance of Jazz is what had sent me here, to the place where we met, looking for a rogue vampire. Oh the twisted webs we weave. It was my fault, ultimately, that he was missing and I had to save him before it was too late.

I pulled into the familiar tree-lined drive, looking for any signs of non-life. I parked my car in front of the large, white, farm house and walked up onto the porch. The house needed to love, I stroked the railing of the porch gently, but it was the same as it had ever been. I didn't know whether I should knock or just go in. Surely Edward hadn't gone so rogue he couldn't even sense I was here.

"Just come in Alice," I heard him yell over the sound of angry piano.

Following his advice, I opened the creaky front door. Inside it was like a ghost of a home. The paint was peeling, the furniture, save one black grand piano, was covered in sheets and, as though he was kind of this ghost home, Edward sat at the piano pounding away at the keys.

It had been at least a year since I'd seen him last and, as always, nothing had changed. Or so I thought. On closer inspection, I found the hollows under his eyes to be much darker and his eyes were pitch black. What on earth was he doing to himself?

"Rogue doesn't look good on you, Edward," I spoke quietly, slightly afraid of how he would react.

The low, guttural, laugh the came from him sent chills down my spine.

"Seems as though you may know something about going rogue sooner than you think," he spoke, a sinister smile crossing his face.

Fuck, I always forgot Edward could read my thoughts.

"Now, Edward, play nice," I chided, "I need your help."

"I know," he replied, coming back to himself, "but I haven't spoken to him since long before..it happened."

I hadn't thought of that. I was so used to them being friends, close, brotherly like, I hadn't taken into account the rift. Still, if anyone could find him, Edward could. Though, that was the old Edward and I wasn't sure how this, slightly insane, Edward would be able to help me.

Slowly, I approached the piano bench and sat beside him. Putting his hands in mine, I looked deeply into his eyes.

"Edward, please. Jasper, he means everything to me," I choked the words out.

In a move that shocked me, given his erratic state, Edward leaned in and kissed my cheek. His lips were cool and soft.

"I'll help you, Alice. I promise we will find him," he spoke in a whisper, "Even if he ignores me, I'll hunt him down for you. Losing a mate, it eats away at you until you are a shell of yourself and you long for revenge or release and do not care which is offered first."

The cold, dead, spot in my chest where my heart lay dormant ached for Edward. Had I any idea how much pain he was in, I would have come to him. He'd been my family for a long time. Living with us in Forks for years. He was like my brother. To see him so dark and twisted was unsettling.

"Let me go make a few phone calls," he said as he stood, "if he doesn't answer, then I will see if I can get tabs on where he is going."

"Thank you," I whisper, looking at my hands.

I closed my eyes, trying to see Jasper's fate with my gift.

* * *

Jasper sat alone, cold, tired, and hungry, in a dark cell. A cell the council kept for dark purposes. He was trembling and very dirty, the golden curls matted to his forehead with his own sweat and blood. Three shadowy figures approached him. Terrified, Jasper threw his arms up in a protective position.

"Ah, all is not lost," one of the figures spoke, lovingly stroking Jasper's face "his powers, once changed, will be just as good as his lover's."

Jasper's yells fill the tiny room.

Time passes, and Jasper's eyes reopen, blood red.

* * *

I gasped, brought back to reality. Grasping at my chest, I stumbled outside for some fresh air.

Jasper was human and I intended him to stay that way. I felt like I was being fractured at my very soul. I would do _whatever _it took to keep Jazz safe. He would not suffer for what I was.

Jazz _would _remain human, even if I had to take on the whole governing body.

* * *

** A/N So, Darkandtwistyward and Alice would LOVE to know what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Twilight belongs to SMeyer.**

**A/N:**

_So, it's me again (thecornergirl) with my chapter featuring the lovely Bella. Can't think of much to say so I'll tell you that AmandaCullen84 is up next chapter with Alice. For now, enjoy Bella. _

_Thanks for reading!!_

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_

**Bella**

Fangri-La was located in the heart of Chicago, the country's vampire mecca. Anyone who thought about it would probably assume that someplace like Sin City or New Orleans would be the center of vampire activity here. But their vampire kingdom grew out of the ruins of the Great Chicago Fire, something that I think surprised even them. Now, it's been home to them for so long that no one even questions it anymore. If you're a U.S. vamp, chances are you've spent time in the windy city.

As we approached Fangri-La, I took time to appraise it, as I almost always did. On the outside, I knew it looked just like any other corner bar, housed within a brick building. It was made to purposely blend in.

I knew, however, that the inside was a completely different story. Decorated back in the eighties, when vampires tended to be more on the outlandish side because the fashions of the times were outlandish and they could get away with it, the bar was done up almost completely in red, with black accents here and there. Vinyl and leather dominated the bar, with candelabras hanging on each wall, providing ambiance for the room. The main light came from an old chandelier that hung from the center of the room. Chains hung from the wall and, more than once, I had wondered whether they had been meant for pleasure or pain.

Any unsuspecting humans entering the bar would probably feel like they had just entered into some gruesome sex house, populated by psychopaths and sex-fiends. Luckily for the humans, there were protections placed on the building causing humans to walk right by the bar, without ever wanting to go in. And luckily for me, Enforcers were able to get around protections like this.

"Let's grab a table," Em said as we entered the bar.

I glanced over at him surprised, but followed him to a table off in the corner without comment. We always sat at the bar when we came to Fangri-La, always. It was a tradition that started the night we met.

I waved over to Frank, who was both bartender and owner, as we took our seats. He raised his eyebrow at us, clearly curious over our new seating arrangement, before waving back. I saw him reach down and grab a Red Stripe which, I knew, he kept stocked specifically for me and a Synthetic for Em. He handed them to the waitress, a new vampire I'd never seen before, and pointed to our table.

The waitress headed over to us, checking out every inch of Emmett as she did, obviously liking what she saw.

She was a young vampire, both in human age and vamp age. I estimated the turn happened when she was twenty or twenty-one, and sometime within the past ten years. Her blonde hair was cropped short in a style that didn't quite suit her face. With crystal blue eyes the color of the sky; she had an innocent look that made her appear prettier than she actually was.

She placed our drinks in front of us, paying absolutely no attention to me as she did, and smiled at Emmett in an effort to catch his attention.

"Anything else I can get for you, hun," she asked Em, a Southern accent apparent when she talked.

"No. That'll be all for now," Em answered, without bothering to look up at the girl.

"You sure, hun? You haven't even asked to see a menu. Maybe you'd find something you'd like, if you did." She leaned into his body as she spoke; obviously hoping he would take her up on her not-so-hidden offer.

Em glanced up at her with a look of disgust on his face, surprised that she'd so blatantly throw herself at him after he'd dismissed her.

"No. My friend here and I have things to discuss. We're fine with just the drinks and some privacy," he answered.

"You don't want to waste your time with a lowly human, now, do ya? I'll take care of you in ways that she never could. Why don't you ditch the girl and meet me back at my place, after I get off work?" she asked.

I was surprised at her confidence. She was a young vampire and Emmett was both very powerful and much older than she was; not someone you'd want to piss off. But, I figured, she must have thought that she was making him an offer he couldn't refuse.

He stared her down until she finally started to look uncomfortable.

"I don't want what you're offering," he answered. "And you need to do your homework before you insult your customers, especially when that customer is an Enforcer."

"She don't scare me. I can handle Enforcers," she said obstinately, pointing over at me when she spoke.

"Not when that Enforcer is Bella Swan, you can't," he said.

She cut her eyes to me and I could see the growing fear in them; obviously my reputation had preceded me in this case.

Em leaned back in his chair so that he could see around the girl to the bar. "Frank?" he called, bringing the owner's attention to our little problem.

"Molly! Get over here!" Frank yelled anger in his voice. The staff at Fangri-La was well-trained and well-paid and Frank expected them to be professionals. Our waitress, Molly, had clearly fallen short of the professional behavior expected of her.

Molly, her eyes still on me and her posture now defensive, slowly backed away from our table. When she reached what I'm assuming she felt was a safe distance, she turned and scurried over to Frank.

"Well, that was interesting," I said, breaking the silence that had fallen over our table.

"Sorry about that, Babe," Em said.

"I don't know why you're sorry, it's not like you did anything wrong. And what exactly are they saying about me now-a-days?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Why'd she look at me like I was going to reach over and yank out her heart when you told her my name? That's what I mean."

"You're legendary, Babe. Any half-intelligent vampire would be a little nervous around you. And one so young, well, she'd have to be a half-wit not to see you as a serious threat," he answered.

I leaned towards him, a smile pasted on my face, and asked, "What about you, Em? Are you frightened of me?"

The smile that spread on his face was so obviously lecherous that I leaned back and gave him a disgusted look. "Stop picturing me naked!" I hissed at him.

We'd slept with each other exactly one time, that first night we met, and it had been haunting me ever since. Em has an almost photographic memory when it comes to female bodies, and he called on his memory of mine more times than I was comfortable with. He had a certain smile that signaled when he was remembering back to that night, something that embarrassed me more than I wanted to admit.

"It's hard to be afraid of someone I've done the horizontal tango with, Babe. Besides, underneath the intense exterior of yours, I know that you're just a big pussycat," he said.

I stared at him in disbelief; no one had ever compared me to a cat before.

"Okay, maybe not a pussycat _exactly_," Em backpedaled, "Maybe you're more like a panther. But that's still in the cat family."

I rolled my eyes at him before deciding to drop it in an effort to get down to business.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on that has you acting all secretive?" I asked.

"We'll get to it. First, I believe we have a debt to settle," he answered as he pulled his ring off his finger with a grimace.

"Em, you don't really have to do this. I got what I wanted from the bet; you can keep your ring."

"What precisely _was_ it that you wanted from the bet? I've always wondered why you were willing to put your Emblem on the line. The more I got to know you, the more out of character it seemed for you."

"It's not important. What matters is that I got what I was looking for, so you can keep your ring," I said, trying to evade his question.

"Nice try, Isabella; but now you really have my curiosity peaked. What, pray tell, was your goal from the bet? And you know I'm not going to let up about this so you might as well just tell me. Oh! I know! You were hoping we'd end up sleeping together, right?" he asked.

I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. I knew I'd have to tell him now, otherwise he'd assume that was the real reason.

"No, you ass, my goal wasn't to sleep with you. Look, okay, if you tell anyone this I _will_ hunt you down and kill you. Got it?"

He laughed but agreed.

"All right, the truth is, when we met I'd been on my own as an Enforcer for about two years and I didn't have a lot of friends. Actually, I didn't have _any_ friends. My job makes it hard to have human friends and I hadn't really met any vampires who were looking to become friends with an Enforcer. The end result was a big case of loneliness."

"When I met you, we got to talking and we clicked in a weird sort of way. So I thought there was a chance we'd be able to start up a friendship, if we just had the time to get to know each other. The bet seemed like a good way to legitimately prolong contact with you in hopes of one day becoming friends. I know, it's pathetic, but there you go. So, you see, you can keep your ring, what I really wanted from the bet was a friend and I've gotten that."

When I finished talking Em just sat and stared at me. It wasn't a normal Emmett stare –which is usually jokingly appraising - either. This one was more serious. He might on occasion jokingly look me over but, since we met, this was the first time I felt he was really taking my measure.

Finally, he broke off the stare to take a drink of the Synthetic, and then started talking. "I was lonely too, actually. I wasn't on the search for a new friend because I wasn't exactly in a trusting mood at the time, but I was looking for a distraction. I had no idea when I picked you up that night that you would end up becoming my closest friend. But now, here it is, five years later and you're both the person I trust the most and the person I care about the most. And you know what Bells? It sucks caring so much about a human. You're fragile and you're stubborn and you're job demands that you put yourself into these dangerous situations and every time we say goodbye I worry that this time will be the last time. I got the raw end of this deal. I love you kid but it sucks loving someone so breakable."

I didn't know what to say. Emmett and I didn't exactly have the type of relationship where we confessed our feelings to each other, so I was already at a loss as to how to handle our current conversation. To top it off, I had had no idea he considered me his closest friend or that he worried about me so much. In a way, I felt bad; I didn't want him to worry about me. But, at the same time, I knew it didn't matter whether the person you cared most about was an almost invincible vampire or a fragile human; you'd still worry about them. I had the same fear every time I left Emmett; that this would be our final goodbye.

"Why are you telling me all of this now," I asked.

I knew that though my confession might have been an influential force, it wouldn't have been the main motivation for him offering up his feelings like that. Em wasn't a tit for tat kind of guy, at least not when it came to emotional bearing of the soul.

"I just thought it was time. For the past five years you've been my, sort of, wingman. We vampires might not be the most social of creatures, but most of us still need people around us we can trust; we still crave friendships. If I hadn't had you these past years, I would have had no one. I just wanted you to know that," he explained.

"You've been it for me, too, Em. I honestly don't know how I would have made it all these last years without you. I'm glad Shamus was such a pain in the ass to catch because I'm glad I ended up in this bar that night, glad I had an excuse for our bet."

Em awkwardly cleared his throat, and I knew this particular discussion was done. We'd both had about as much as we could take of the sentimental talk. Neither of us are what you would call emotional people.

"All right, enough with the mushy shit. We still have things to discuss. First, take the damn ring, Bella," he said, trying to hand it to me as he spoke.

"Em, no; it's your ring. You keep it, the bet is void."

"That's not how it works. Plus, I want you to keep it for a while. One day, I'll get it back but for now, you wear it," he said.

I considered him for a moment before I finally took the ring from him. It was too big for my fingers so I unhooked the chain holding my Emblem and hung it on there. I pulled the neck of my shirt back away from my body and let the Emblem and ring drop down, safely hidden from view.

I looked up to catch a smile on Em's face and knew he was getting a kick out of his ring hanging between my breasts. I rolled my eyes at him. "You're a perv," I said.

"I know it," he answered.

I sighed loudly, pretending to be annoyed. Really, though, his honest acceptance of his faults always made me laugh a little – it was why I let him get away with as much as I did.

"And finally, on to business," he said, keeping us focused. "I'm gonna have to go out of town for a while. I don't know how long I'll be gone; it could just be a couple of days, it could be a lot longer. I think there's a good chance you won't be able to get in touch with me while I'm gone; it depends on what the situation is when I get there. Call my cell if you have any emergencies and leave a message, I'll try to check it as often as possible. But, Babe, try not to have any emergencies; at the very least it will take me a while to get to you if you're in need of help."

"Wait, where are you going and why," I asked, both concerned and curious. In all the time I've known Emmett, this was the first time he's gone Mr. Mysterio on me.

His eyes shifted down and to the left a little before he answered, a sure sign he was either about to lie or hiding something from me. "Just something I have to deal with. It's nothing to be concerned about, it just might take me a little while to get it done and I wanted you to know so you wouldn't be worried about me."

We both knew what the unspoken part of that sentence was; he didn't want me worrying about him because he was afraid I would track him down. He didn't want me coming after him; which meant that he was hiding something from me.

"What happens if you need my help," I asked.

"I won't but, if I did, I'd get in touch with you."

"Are you sure you'd be able to?"

He paused for a moment to consider. "I'm sure," he finally answered. That time his eyes had stayed focused on me, he hadn't been lying. Or, at least, he hadn't thought he was.

"You'll come back when you're done?" I had to ask. I needed to know that he planned to return when he took care of whatever it was he had to go off to do.

"I will," he said simply, eyes focused again on me, reassuring me.

"You can't tell me what this is about," I asked, attempting one last time to figure out what was going on.

"No. I'm sorry, Bells," was all he said. No explanation and, that time, no attempt to deny that there was something he couldn't tell me.

I sat in silent contemplation for a moment, debating my options. I could try to force some answers out of him, which I knew would ultimately be unsuccessful. I could attempt to follow him when he left, but I was sure he'd be watching for me. Or, I could let him go, trusting that he would call me if he needed help and would return when he could.

I sighed loudly, knowing I only had one option.

"All right, go. I promise not to try to follow you."

"I didn't say you were going to," he said.

"It was implied. When are you planning to leave?"

"Tomorrow; sun-down," was his answer.

"Will you be careful," I asked, knowing that he would be, but needing to hear him say it anyway.

"Always," he said with a smile on his face. He liked having someone to worry about him, I knew.

I nodded my head in acceptance, knowing there was nothing else I could do.

"Let's make the most of the time we have, then. Come on and I'll kick your ass in a game of pool," I said getting up from the table as I spoke. Em was only a second behind me, both of us heading to the open pool table in the corner.

I watched Emmett for the rest of the night, trying to sort through what I was feeling. I finally admitted to myself that what I was feeling was despair.

As a bounty hunter, I knew that I wasn't the fastest. Nor was I the strongest, or even the smartest. I didn't think I was the bravest, either. What I had going for me, what had helped me earn the reputation I had and at such a young age and what had continuously kept me alive was instincts. I had learned to trust my instincts early on; that trust had paid off, my instincts were hardly ever wrong.

Now, my instincts were telling me that trouble was on the horizon. I felt sure that Em's trip would be the catalyst to this trouble. The only problem was, I didn't know what that trouble would be or whether it would come after Emmett alone, or the both of us together. Either way, I was going to be ready.

I wasn't sure if I believed in God or not, but as I got on my Ducatti and waved goodbye to Emmett, I silently prayed that I would have the chance to see him again; that this wouldn't be our last goodbye.

* * *

**A/N:**

_Reviews are oh so nice. ;o)_


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